Go Green

Sebastian is home again and it was high time to get back on the water. We drove over to Griffey on a hot July afternoon. We rented the little white rowboat instead of the canoe, and headed for the shady bank on the other side of the causeway. Two fishermen were standing on their bass boat flipping lures under the bridge. They gave way and one of them looked down as we passed and asked, "Gonna smack'em today?" Yes, sir. Gonna smack'em.

We were feeling confident because we had the bait they can't refuse: green nightcrawlers.

I was looking for beemoths at the convenience store bait cooler, but all they had was nightcrawlers--and green nightcrawlers. I'd never heard of green nightcrawlers, so I opened the container to take a look. As soon as Sebastian saw them he was sold.

We put a big green ball of nightcrawler on the hook and cast it into the shade and got an immediate pull. But Sebastian missed it.

After a few more misses he asked if he could see the worms. That was pretty much it for him fishing. I took over and always had a fresh half worm when I needed it. And he had fun slipping whole worms into the water as either a great escape for the worms or an act of charity for the hungry fish. Or because it was cool to watch their eery green glow disappear into the depths.

I was doing the fishing, but that little bobber stopped getting any action.

But we had fun. Sebastian really enjoyed getting up on my lap and rowing the boat.

We eventually got a nice pull on the line, and the green worms finally brought a fish to hand. Really, after the excitement of green bait, the fish was a bit of an anticlimax.

We were hot and tired and decided to head for home. Sebastian switched to the bow seat and captained us back to the dock. Proper responses to his commands, he informed me, were either "Aye aye, Cap'n!" or "Yes sir, Captain!"

We had a memorable time, and once again Sebastian showed me that there's more than one way to have fun on the water.